The Official Del Piero Appreciation Thread

SpAcEd OuT · 05-11-2008 9:42pm #1

This guy has been outstanding this season he scored another 2 crackers tonight and could easily have got a third. Over the weekend he scored a screamer of a free kick from over 30 yards out. Scored an absolute gem in the first Real Madrid game. CL record has been 4 from 4 so far. The dude is 34 years old and a role model truly one the greats. Last season he was Italy's top goal scorer this season he looks set to be again many said he was finished yet here he is into his 30s and he is proving himself to be one of the best players in europe right now. If this guy was in the premiership there would be pandumonium about him.

What a player.

kaimera · 05-11-2008 9:44pm

Yes.

staker · 05-11-2008 9:44pm

he's been playing great stuff for a long time now. legend

Mr. Presentable · 05-11-2008 9:44pm

Agreed.

Also, it's now so Anglo-centric here there's been no thread for tonight's Euro games.

Frisbee · 05-11-2008 9:46pm

Probably one of my favourite players of al time.
My dad was in Turin on business a few years ago and a few of them went to see Juve Training before their CL match that week thanks to his agent.
Have Big al's training top at home. Not much of a claim to fame, but when my dad gave it to me it was one of the happiest days of my childhood.

Asked him last year did he just tell me it was his to make me seem amazed. Nope

Mr. Presentable · 05-11-2008 9:46pm

He got a standing ovation from the home fans tonight. The last time I saw an opposition player get a standing ovation was at Old Trafford - also Del Piero!

pickarooney · 05-11-2008 9:52pm

Poor man's Baggio, tbh

Nah, utmost of respect to the guy. After spending so long in the relative wilderness (being only a very good player for about 7 years) the way he took advantage of relegation to get back to his sharpest and hungriest finally proved to me that he was worthy of the Codino's number 10 shirt (which, incidentally, I bought about a month before he was shipped off to Milan).

LuckyLloyd · 05-11-2008 10:02pm

Something else.

A true legend.

Jazzy · 05-11-2008 10:04pm

hes absolute quality. a joy to watch

HalloweenJack · 05-11-2008 10:13pm

What a legend of a player.

Always enjoyed watching him play for Juve back in the Football Italia days. He was a legend then and still one now. I've been really impressed with how well he's still playing having dropped down a division and then returning.

eirebhoy · 05-11-2008 10:33pm

nipplenuts wrote: »

He got a standing ovation from the home fans tonight. The last time I saw an opposition player get a standing ovation was at Old Trafford - also Del Piero!

The Real fans gave Ronaldinho a standing ovation after scoring a couple against them a while back. That's something that gives me real tingles down the spine tbh.

Tonights 2 goals:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2426103
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2426314

LuckyLloyd · 05-11-2008 10:37pm

I think that, given his game is not reliant upon athleticism or pace these days (he plays smart not fast), he could maintain this high level for a few more years.

B00MSTICK · 05-11-2008 10:52pm

Been watching him since '96, my all-time favourite player.

Xavi6 · 05-11-2008 11:36pm

An absolute legend. I remember him first breaking onto the scene in 93 and have loved him since then. Will go down as an all time great and a fantastic servant to Juve.

Have him in my CL fantasy league team.

Peyton Manning · 05-11-2008 11:37pm

eirebhoy wrote: »

The Real fans gave Ronaldinho a standing ovation after scoring a couple against them a while back. That's something that gives me real tingles down the spine tbh.

Tonights 2 goals:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2426103
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2426314

Didnt Messi get a standing ovation when he scored a hat trick?

An Citeog · 05-11-2008 11:53pm

Archimedes wrote: »

Didnt Messi get a standing ovation when he scored a hat trick?

That game was in the Camp Nou afair.

eZe^ · 05-11-2008 11:56pm

At the same time, the standing ovation for Ronnie and Del Piero can't be compared. Ronaldinho played for Barca, Real's biggest rivals, and the last Barca player before him to get a standing ovation at the Bernecow was Cruyff in the 70s.

Still though, quality Juve performance, and Del Piero is a hero, 3 cracking goals against them over two legs.

dfx- · 06-11-2008 1:15am

In fairness, the goals tonight were tap-ins for him especially the free-kick, but that they were tap-ins shows Del Piero's unending class.

That wall by Casillas is shocking.

Xavi6 · 06-11-2008 1:17am

Agreed on the wall. Absolutely disgraceful set up.

Though it's only a bad wall if it's punished.

ibh · 06-11-2008 8:31am

Del P is a ledge, but i'd also like to comment on the worst wall i've ever seen!! What the fcuk was he doing putting them in the centre on the goal leaving him to cover 2 opposite corners. Bad organisation. On the RTE highlights the camera / producer focused for a couple of extra seconds on Casillas trying to get the wall organised.

Pity he didn't grab the hat-trick with that second half chance, although it was a pretty difficult chance especially on the left foot.

bantee · 06-11-2008 8:33am

What is Del Piero that got a goal years ago from a ridiculous angle in the Champions League? I can't remember who it was against. Or maybe I'm getting it mixed up with a goal from Roberto Carlos.
Either way, he is a major quality player stuck in a league that isn't renowned for prolific goal-scorers.

Idu · 06-11-2008 8:56am

I hate Del Piero but only because he made sh*t of United for about 5 years straight in the Champions League.

The guy is a class act

Oh and the last away player to get a standing ovation at OT was the real Ronaldo after he scored the hat-trick

06-11-2008 9:17am

Tbh I've been a fan of Del boy since he broke through. The guys an absolute legend, was fckin delighted for him when he got on in the World Cup Final.

I also have a soft spot for Juvé after being to a match in 2000. Del Piero played that day too. A real champion.

06-11-2008 9:19am

The wall really was shockin there!

TripleAce · 06-11-2008 10:05am

I remember that day…..Roby Baggio injured, me and my friends (we were 16 at the time) in a night club on a rainy Sunday afternoon, listening to the football games at the radio, Juve down 0-2 against Fiorentina in Turin, and then…..a star was born:

http://dailymotion.alice.it/video/x4k3je_juventusfiorentina-32-gol-di-del-pi_sport

God bless Alex!

Frankie Lee · 06-11-2008 10:07am

Fantastic player, I think the season is Serie B helped rejuvenate him, he was going downhill at that point but his for this season and last has been fantastic.

An Icon of the Champions League during the golden age of 95 - 01

iregk · 06-11-2008 10:21am

I've always thought of Del Piero as one of the great tragedies of modern football. Clearly the man is an absolute genius with a touch and technique envied the world over. More so he goes against the model of a perfect footballer these days being that he is 5'9, slow and in no way athletic.

When I first saw him way back in the early 90's having just moved to Juve from Padova I thought I was about to witness the career of the next maradonna. Then injury started to hit him. While he will still go down as one of the best players of his generation I always feel if it wasn't for injury he would go down as one of the best of all time.

Still, a legend of a man and player, hats off to him.

ironingbored · 06-11-2008 11:02am

Having lived near Turin for nigh on nine years, I was a regular in the curva sud of the Delle Alpi with the Black and White Fighters. Del Piero has won everything there is to win in football. He has had two/three mediocre years (due to cruciate injuries) but is playing better than ever. He is and has always been the consumate professional. Nicknamed Pinturicchio (renaissance painter) by Gianni Agnelli. Absolute legend. The Juve ten shirt should be withdrawn when he retires.

TripleAce · 06-11-2008 4:43pm

Nothing useful to add, just repopping this thread up to let the appreciation continue

Galvasean · 06-11-2008 4:51pm

For Del Piero to be as good as he is now at 34 is just sensational. Even Bergkamp (who was still great) at 34 wasn't as good as Del Piero is now.

I wonder could ADP still be playing at a decent level by age 40

20 Times 20 Times · 06-11-2008 4:58pm

The wall is a bit of a gimmie all right but it doesnt take away from the fact that the ball ended up in the back of the net. As said before it's only a dodgy wall if the ball ends up in the back of the net.

weemcd · 06-11-2008 6:06pm

was thinkin about this last night, and last sunday when i saw raul scoring for real in la liga.

there are just some players you can't keep down, every time you think they are finished they come back and prove you wrong. Del boy being one of them, few other that spring to mind; maldini, scholes, raul, even ryan giggs making the diffence last night too at 34 years of age.

legends in the true sense of the word